Monday, May 12, 2014

Rumor: Whole Foods looking at a store around 9th and U

This is interesting. PoP has some "scuttlebutt": a source tells him that Whole Foods is in negotiations to bring a store to the area around 9th and U.

Of course, this is just a rumor and may very well not happen (see Ellwood Thompson's organic supermarket not coming to DCUSA, for example), but the PoPster says the same source also told him about the H Street NE Whole Foods, which did end up happening.

If true, that would be pretty cool. The new Trader Joe's has been great, but as some commenters noted, Whole Foods has different things than other grocery stores (although Harris Teeter is similar in some ways to WF.)

It could also be a spark to the southern Georgia Avenue developments that have so far mostly stalled -- if you remember, there was supposed to be the Howard Town mixed use development at Georgia and V, but Howard University, which owns the land, recently canceled their agreement with the site's developers.

As for the actual location, the only real possibilities seem to be south of Florida around 8th, maybe where District Flea is on Vermont near Duffy's or the abandoned lots near the 9:30 Club, unless some buildings are torn down or reused -- like the buildings near the 9:30 Club or Town or the seemingly abandoned Howard buildings on Georgia (see the map below.) The latter would be great, there are some big unused buildings on Georgia that could be pretty nice looking if they were fixed up, like this one. That's just my own speculation, though.

And in my opinion, there can't be enough grocery stores. It's especially convenient for those folks in Park View and southeastern Columbia Heights, though of course Whole Foods is pricier for staple items than say Giant or Target (hence the nickname Whole Paycheck.)

2 comments:

Whole Foods would make more money in this spot than Logan. Moreover, somehow, those two stores would increase total revenue by situating themselves at that distance... U Street condo night life insanity, 930 Club, stuff like Banneker Pool, and what Howard will eventually do... it's a gold mine over there.